Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
It was a claiming so profound my soul recognized it before my heart and body could respond.
His chest pressed against my breasts and I could feel his heart hammering through the fabric of his suit.
I gasped into his mouth.
My hands flew up to his jaw.
He deepened the kiss, pulling me closer and sliding his arms around my waist.
The tears on his cheeks were still wet and they smeared against my skin, marking me.
Oh God. I love this man so much. I would die for him.
And something happened that had never happened before, that would change me for the rest of my life. . .the dragon-shadow dove for us and curled its massive wispy body around us both, shimmering black scales closing us inside the cage of itself.
I trembled from the shock of it all because I could not only feel Kenji’s warmth. . .but I could feel the dragon-shadow too for the first time and it was a velvet inferno. Comforting and terrifying. A storm made of silk and stars.
Holy fuck!!!
When Kenji finally pulled back, the dragon-shadow dissolved into the air, yet its phantom heat lingered on my skin.
What was that?
My bottom lip quivered.
Kenji pressed his forehead against mine for a long moment. His breath came hard and uneven.
I lifted my hands and wiped his remaining tears with my thumbs.
One cheek.
Then the other.
My lips still tingled with the absence of his mouth, and my cheeks were wet with tears that were not mine.
He let out a long sigh. “I would walk through fire for you.”
“You don’t have to. I’m already yours.”
“And still I would do it. Let my skin burn. Hair and eyes melt. Bones crack and turn to ashes and dust.”
“Why would I want that?”
“The reason wouldn’t matter.” He tilted my chin up so I could not look anywhere but at him when he spoke the next words. “You’re my queen.”
I shivered.
He gathered me in his muscular arms and held me for an eternity within the sanctuary of his warmth.
All I could do was close my eyes and surrender to it.
Only then did I register the hollow ache in my own chest. The pain of grief. The heart-aching tremor that began at the nape of my neck and cascaded down my spine like falling dominoes.
The emotional release that finally came.
Then utter surprise at the fact that I had needed his comforting too, just as his Claws and he found release.
God. . .he is my safe space.
Tears fell from my eyes. My body shook and Kenji held me even closer.
Hiroko’s face hit my mind, and my tears shifted to sobs.
Oh fuck. . .
I’d barely known her, yet in that short time she’d become my mentor. She’d walked me through the entire architecture of how to survive in Kenji’s dark world and then taught me how to love a dragon.
How to make him kneel and still heal him.
She showed me how to be a queen too in just a sliver of time, yet. . .it felt like decades of memories and conversations. Maybe that was why I ached for her now like I had known her my whole life. What she had given me could not be measured in time.
And perhaps. . .that was why I cried too. . .because everything I had done tonight had come from her.
And she was not here to see it.
She would never be here to see it.
I shook against Kenji and cried some more, hating myself for losing control when this moment was supposed to be for them. I couldn’t stop. I cried into his chest for the friendship that had not lasted long enough. For the lessons I would never hear.
I cried until the pressure in my chest eased and I told myself that she was still here.
And when I finally lifted my head from Kenji’s chest, the space returned, and Reo approached.
Alright. Fix yourself. This is about them. Not you.
Before I could wipe my tears, Kenji did it for me.
I swallowed.
The Roar got right in front of me. I thought he was about to speak, but to my complete shock, he took me out of Kenji's hold and gently hugged me.
Oh.
I stiffened for a half-second.
He rubbed my back and whispered in my ear, "Thank you."
I could not form a sentence. I was too shocked. I just bobbed my head against his chest.
He let me go as cleanly as he had taken me from Kenji and then walked off, joining Toma, Kaede, and Daisuke as they departed too.
His waitress with the mac and cheese skewers followed.
I cleared my throat and called after them. "Head to the bar. We still have our remaining signature drinks, before we open up the ballroom for our other guests and have our sit-down dinner."
Reo lifted one hand in acknowledgment without turning around. “Yes, Heart. We’ll do anything you want.”
I blushed, turned to my right, and saw Hiro coming. He was no longer sobbing. His face was calm. His fur coat was off, and those sculpted muscles of his were rippling with his movement.